A Loudoun County Sheriff's Office sergeant mistakenly shot and injured his daughter at their Frederick County, Va., home around 3:30 a.m. Tuesday.

The shooter, Sgt. Easton McDonald believed his 16-year-old daughter to be an intruder, according to a Frederick County Sheriff's Office captain.

The daughter was in stable condition as of Wednesday afternoon, the Frederick captain, Donnie Lang, said.

“Sgt. Easton McDonald was involved in an incident in Frederick County, but, as this is an ongoing and active investigation by the Frederick County Sheriff’s Office, we cannot comment further,” a Loudoun County Sheriff's Office spokesman told the Times-Mirror Thursday. “He is currently on administrative leave pending an internal LCSO investigation.”

Lang told WHAG news out of Hagerstown, Md., which first reported the story, "It was determined that the daughter had snuck out hours earlier that morning, and was attempting to sneak back into the home" when she was shot. McDonald was reportedly getting ready for work as the daughter returned home.

After realizing he'd shot his daughter in the torso, McDonald attempted to transport her to the Winchester Medical Center, but crashed his car en route. Emergency personnel eventually took the daughter to the hospital, where she remained Thursday.

Lang told the Times-Mirror his office will be conducting an investigation of the incident into next week, at which point it will turn over the findings to the Frederick County Commonwealth's Attorney Office. It will be up to the commonwealth's attorney office to determine if charges will be filed, Lang said.

This story has been updated from an earlier version.

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You mean other than showing how statistically unlikely B&Es; are. Life is risk but when you live where there are not B&Es; happening and you have a teenage kid, who is most likely in your house at 3am trying to turn off the alarm?

The idea of shooting first when statistically its most likely your kid is stupid and why you have bought into the culture of fear. A culture that is clearly bad at math or understanding statistics.

fedupdude, you still have no proof of your claim “Here is another fact the likelihood of a break in while you are home is insignificant but the likelihood of a teen breaking curfew is high which is why shooting first and asking questions later is stupid.”

You tell me when the next B&E is going to happen and I will tell you that you are right. It’s pretty hilarious for you to tell people that “B&E’s don’t happen so don’t worry about them”. I hope the next victim of a home invasion or robbery isn’t taking your foolish advise.

You mean besides the crime reports showing there is little B&E ever. You have a fraction of 1% of being a victim of such a crime.

For instance the Broadlands has had three petty thefts and 1 B&E at a store all year so far. So it is more likely someone coming in the house at 3am is some drug crazed killer thief or my 16 year old daughter, better shoot first then ask questions.

fedupdude, did you know that 99.9% of all “facts” posted on the LTM comments section are false? Most of them are yours. It is great to read comments from people that know it all and don’t mind telling the rest of us how it is! Thank you, thank you for providing us the truth.

Here is another fact the likelihood of a break in while you are home is insignificant but the likelihood of a teen breaking curfew is high which is why shooting first and asking questions later is stupid.

fedupdude is a standard knee jerk commenter that has been on here for years. it gets old reading “the world according to fedupdude” on every story, but it is his right to do so. The “gather all the facts” argument is proper anytime all the facts aren’t gathered, but keep on commenting.

Carlos, our “non-fact based” argument is more plausible since we’re not the ones judging on lack of information. But feel free to keep engaging keyboard before brain. Or am I judging without all the facts in your case?

Just more negative news coming out of Chapman’s Sheriff’s Office. Wonder what’s next?? Wish he could make the national news with something other than this incident or shooting small old women at Costco.

What are we as society thinking when we pushed to have armed officers in our schools? I can’t remember the last time an officer was injured by a perp’s gun by I do remember officer getting self-inflicted gunshot wounds and being injured by friendly fire over the past year. We’ve had a least 2 children injured by police in the past few months. We need to disarm the police to save ourselves.

Constitution and Sterling Park don’t know all the details either. Based on this story, people make comments. You can agree or disagree, but cannot use the “gather all the facts” argument, as your non-fact based theory is as plausible as everybody elses.

fedupdude, Considering you don’t know all the facts, your know-it-all attitude is sounding like a trigger temper and poor judgement. I suspect you are also knee jerking on a variety of national topics like the rest of the uninformed masses. Typical.

“Oh, Almighty God, whose great power and eternal wisdom embraces the universe. Please watch over all our Deputies. Protect them in their everyday duties of serving papers,traffic violations, riots, evictions, domestic violence, and more. Give them the strength to accomplish the difficult tasks that lie before them. Empower them with the wisdom and quick reactions that will result in the safety of the people in their community. God, protect these brave men and women.
Grant them your Almighty protection and please unite them safely with their families after their duty has ended.
Amen”

Sounds like we should disarm the police too….. Seriously, no one can speak to how they’d react unless they’ve had a home intruder themselves…. You can’t make those judgements based on the little information in the story.

She was apparently sneaking back into the house through the garage when the house alarm went off the her dad got an off-duty gun. Unfortunately, he shot first then asked questions. He also had a car accident on the way to the hospital with his injured daughter.

If this was England, he would have mistakenly beat her with his Bobby Stick. This can be directly traced back to Chapman’s leadership.

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